Chapter 148. A Dreamy Night (3) (1/2)
Flone flew for a long time even after leaving the villa and only stopped when Seol Jihu told her to.
After throwing Phi Sora down and landing on the ground, he got on his fours and panted.
Perhaps because he ran away as if to bake beans on lightning, he didn’t even remember how he managed to escape.
Only the darkness that dyed the entire fourth floor black remained in his mind, and the goosebumps on his back still had not subsided.
What if he wasn’t lucky enough to meet Flone’s grandfather? What if the spirits of the massacred expedition team didn’t throw themselves forward to stop the darkness?
No, if he didn’t ‘choose’ to bring Phi Sora out, would they have helped him so desperately?
Several thoughts brushed past his mind, giving him goosebumps once again.
‘Damned Nine Eyes. If there was something so terrifying, shouldn’t the villa have looked black?’
Seol Jihu cursed his Innate Ability without knowing his position.
Of course, he had experienced something similar a couple of times before, and guessed that the villa had something that went beyond ‘Escape Immediately’ in importance. But since he almost died, he couldn’t help but resent the Nine Eyes a little bit.
Flone was looking in the direction of the villa. Seeing her staring endlessly made Seol Jihu feel sad and a little bitter, but he didn’t have the slightest desire of going back inside.
He would rather throw the camouflage helmet on his head and hide behind a nearby rock.
Seol Jihu opened his mouth.
“…What do you think was that?”
Flone slowly turned around, then shook her head.
[I don’t know. Grandpa was really startled too.]
“Really?”
[Yeah. I heard him muttering, “There’s no way it should be awake. It normally doesn’t leave the emperor’s bedroom…”]
In other words, opening the wrong door on the fourth floor might have ended his life.
[Anyways, are you okay?]
Seol Jihu wanted to say, ‘No, I’m not fine at all. Why did you insist on entering?’ But when he saw Flone’s eyes heading down, he also moved his gaze down.
Phi Sora, who was having trouble breathing when he threw her down on the ground, was now sleeping peacefully as if such a thing had never happened.
“She looks peaceful.”
[People are normally at peace before entering eternal sleep. I know that because I experienced it.]
“Chet, she sure has it nice. Sleeping when I almost died…. Wait. Eternal sleep?”
[Yep.]
Flone nodded her head. When Seol Jihu stared at her fixedly, she leisurely pointed at Phi Sora.
[Her spirit is ready to leave her body.]
“Huh? No way.”
Seol Jihu put his finger under Phi Sora’s nose.
“…Ah.”
She wasn’t breathing. Before he even noticed, her ripe, peach-colored complexion had withered and turned pale.
“Mi, Miss Phi Sora?”
Even when he shook her and slapped her cheeks with a little bit of his true feelings behind it, her response was null.
Even when he poured a healing potion down her throat, she didn’t move.
Having thought that just cutting the rope was enough, it was only now that he began to give her emergency treatment. Recalling his past experience of learning how to perform CPR, he interlocked his fingers and diligently put pressure on Phi Sora’s chest.
But as she showed no signs of breathing again, he pressed down harder and tried mouth-to-mouth.
[!?]
Seol Jihu put his mouth against Phi Sora’s cold lips and blew air into it.
[Eek…!]
He could feel Flone tacitly pulling on his hair, but he ignored her and focused on giving CPR.
He knew Phi Sora would die if left alone. She wasn’t someone evil like Kang Seok nor was she someone who invited much danger in being saved. Just ignoring her… felt wrong.
Plus, it didn’t sit right with him to laugh and leave her be, just because she had been a bit temperamental earlier.
‘In a way, I had a slip of the tongue too.’
At the very least, he felt like he needed to do what he could, to not feel guilty if Phi Sora died.
He knew killing her painlessly might be easier, but he didn’t want to be that numb to killing yet.
How much time went by?
After repeatedly performing mouth-to-mouth dozens of times while sweating profusely….
“Heuk—!”
A burst of breath finally broke out. A flash of light flickered in Seol Jihu’s eyes. When he pressed down on Phi Sora’s chest harder, she coughed.
When he blew air into her mouth one more time, Seol Jihu could feel her hot breath gently touch his mouth.
“Hnng….”
Her thin, long eyelashes quivered and her eyes shot open.
“….”
“….”
Confirming that she had revived, Seol Jihu took his mouth off. As he raised his body, he fell on his butt. He spat on the ground before tilting his head and looking up at the sky.
“Haaaa—”
Phi Sora blinked and blankly rolled her eyes. She was clearly confused.
‘I know exactly what that feels like.’
As Seol Jihu had narrowly escaped from death many times, he fully understood what Phi Sora was going through.
After staring absent-mindedly for several minutes, Phi Sora wiped her lips with the back of her hand and gently raised her upper body. With a trembling hand, she rubbed her neck, which still had a clear rope mark around it. Her eyebrows perked up.
“What… happened?”
Her voice wasn’t clear like it used to be, but hoarse.
“A rescue.”
Rather than explaining himself in a roundabout way, Seol Jihu decided to be commanding. Of course, he couldn’t tell her everything truthfully, so he mixed in the right amount of lies.
“Rescue?”
Phi Sora furrowed her brows.
“There’s no way that old man would form a rescue team….”
Judging by her murmurings, it seemed Phi Sora knew Bok Jungsik was looking for the opportunity to kick her out.
Seol Jihu decided to use this to his advantage.
“I didn’t come to rescue White Rose.”
“?”
“Mm… there’s someone who doesn’t wish for you to die. I came here to fulfill this request.”
Seol Jihu thought about selling Jang Maldong’s name if she asked who specifically.
“…Got it.”
“Huh?”
“I got it. I think I know who it is…. Anyways, you mean you came here without White Rose knowing?”
“Uh….”
“What do you mean, ‘Uh….’ If you said you were going to save me, that Bok bastard would have surely thrown a fit about the ruin to try and stop you.”
Phi Sora clicked her tongue before glancing at Seol Jihu.
“Well, I understand what you’re saying, so don’t worry. You saved my life… I’m not such a bitch that I wouldn’t understand your position.”
Seol Jihu was glad she was misunderstanding things on her own, but what was more surprising was that his words got through her.
Seol Jihu stared at Phi Sora with a look of surprise.
Jang Maldong had told him that Phi Sora had a ‘black and white’ mentality. That she separated people into friend or foe.
“Let me ask you something.”
Seol Jihu abruptly asked.
“Did you not receive White Rose’s message?”
“Message?”
Phi Sora asked back.
“What do you mean? Forget about receiving a message. We contacted Bok Jungsik more than a dozen times, but he never responded.”
“What? He never messaged you? Not even once?”
“We didn’t receive a single message ever since we left White Rose. Not from Bok Jungsik or anyone else.”
‘The moment they left White Rose?’
That meant Bok Jungsik had not contacted her even before they entered the villa. Of course, Bok Jungsik could always find an excuse for this.
Seol Jihu’s eyes narrowed to a slit.
“Anyways, did you come to the rescue alone…?”
Phi Sora asked with a quizzical look before suddenly looking around the area frantically.
When she realized Seol Jihu was the only one there, her jaw dropped.
“Where’s everyone else?”
The expected question finally came. Rather than responding immediately, Seol Jihu silently shook his head.
“No way.”
Phi Sora clenched her teeth before standing up. When she staggered past Seol Jihu, his hand snatched the back of her neck.
“Hear me out before you leave.”
Phi Sora came to a sudden halt, turning around and glaring sharply at Seol Jihu.
“They’re all dead. I’ve seen at least ten corpses, though I’m not sure if there were more.”
Seol Jihu said while roughly estimating the number of corpses stopping the darkness.
“I barely, barely escaped from that place alive. If you go back, I guarantee you will die. But if you still want to go, I won’t stop you.”
Phi Sora gave him a strong glare before quickly taking out a communication crystal. When she clutched it tightly, the crystal emitted a pure light.